As you pass beneath the great arch, covered in flowering creepers, and enter Respite, you are surrounded by the sweet scent of blooming flowers.

Here the ruins, plant life, and new buildings seem harmonious, one flowing into the next. Even the floating rubble—fragments of long-forgotten majesties—play their part, covered in blooming plants and small trees.

Because of its many majestic ruins and large amount of floating rubble, sages believe Respite was the wealthiest part of the ancient city. They know it was later the seat of power for giant chieftains and pirate lords. These past glories now exist only as monuments and graveyards: the tombs of pirate captains, the mausoleums of giants, the wreckage of old thrones. Today the district is devoted to healing and funerary rites.

For adventurers and explorers, Respite is a place where they can recover their strength and equip themselves, and the ancient tombs beckon, elaborately warded but rich with treasure. Sometimes subsidence destroys one tomb but reveals another, and old dangers emerge into the realm of the living.

Overheard in Respite

“Sure, it seems nice here with all the flowers and the pretty ruins. Trust me, though, wherever there are rich folks there’s power, and power means there’s something ugly going on. The prettiest toadstools and insects are also the most poisonous.”

“I’m here every morning for a dip. Coldwake is the only place in all of Stormreach where the air is actually fresh and crisp. I take a dip in there every single day, without fail. It keeps me tough, healthy, and strong.”

“Respite is the only decent part of this benighted city. This, my dear fellow, is civilization and decency. Everywhere else in Stormreach is barbarism or excessive patriotism, and beyond the walls are only animals. I never leave Respite if I don’t have to.”

STORMHAVEN

The Stormhaven ward is the city’s wealthiest. Most of the Storm Lords maintain houses here, whether small retreats or mansions. The ward is surrounded by walls covered by flowering creepers and is almost a miniature city, with its own shops and a group of the Stormreach Guard assigned to patrol its streets day and night. These guards keep their eyes on “riffraff ” from other parts of the city and run them out at the first sign of trouble.

KEYLOCATIONS

Coldwake Pond (19)

Coldwake Pond is a deep body of water near the great gate that leads into Stormhaven. The pond—a cistern in centuries past—is much colder than other bodies of water in and around the city. Every day mist rises from the pond as warm, damp air meets its iciness. Speculation is rife about what causes the pond to be so cold.

Delera’s Watch (20)

There are more dead than living in Respite, and their necropolis is Delera’s Watch. Named after the tomb of Delera Omaren, one of the city’s founders, the necropolis is the resting place for Storm Lords, pirate captains, and wealthy explorers. The pirate tombs are filled with traps and wards, and undead guardians are prepared to stop robbers from frustrating the dead pirates’ attempts to take their wealth and treasure maps with them.

As a burial site, this land is very old. The necropolis’s hillocks are all burial mounds from the Age of Giants, and below the surface lie sepulchers and bone-filled pits. Despite constant efforts to stop them, undead often rise from these dark places, and stories abound of catacombs where mummified corpses have lain undisturbed for more than forty thousand years.

Using the land around Delera’s Watch as a makeshift graveyard, generations of poorer citizens have, depending on their cultures, buried their dead in simple graves or left corpses out for scavengers to devour. This hodgepodge of grave markers and bone piles is like a moat around the stately tombs and sarcophagi of Delera’s Watch itself.

Drowning Sorrows Tavern

Not far from the Garden of Respite, the Drowning Sorrows Tavern is a good place to go to heal the wounds of the heart. The drink is cheap, the company is friendly, and the tavern is airy. The proprietress, Bula O’Loarima, provides a shoulder to cry on and a listening ear, following the tradition laid down by her predecessor, Camellia Khan, who was famous for being able to get people to spill their troubles within moments of meeting her.

Empty Handed

Troy Alzander does his best to make sure that nobody leaves his store without buying something; he believes it is bad luck if they leave empty handed. The store has various tools, artworks, and knickknacks. If someone is about to leave without buying anything, Troy tries to sell a 1 cp trinket as a last resort.

Knowledge (local) DC 20: Troy has a small supply of minor wondrous items—typically Quaal’s feather tokens—that he will sell if a person knows to ask.

Feather’s Fall Apothecary

Ostensibly this is an apothecary, run by Salar and Quolish, a pair of ambitious halflings whose moneymaking schemes often fall fl at. The apothecary is their only real success, but it also acts as a store for whatever remains after their latest get-rich-quick plan has foundered. They have a wide selection of potions duplicating the effects of spells of 2nd level and lower (75% chance per week of finding any such potion).

Diplomacy DC 30: The duo keeps a handful of potions holding 3rd-level spells. These are reserved for customers who make a good impression on them. A customer who has participated in one of their schemes must succeed on a DC 20 Diplomacy check, rather than DC 30.

Garden of Respite (21)

The Garden of Respite is a multi-tiered garden maintained by the Healers Guild. A sanctuary from the city’s clamor, the fragrant garden is a favorite place for quiet walks and romantic rendezvous.

Each of the garden’s three tiers is home to a different type of plant. The top tier, which sees the most sun, is used for flowering plants from Xen’drik and other continents. The second tier is used for plants that require less light and less heat than those in the top tier. This means plants and trees from more temperate parts of the world. The third and lowest tier harbors winter plants and mushrooms. This is the least-visited part of the garden, where garden tools are stored in stone sheds that were once tombs, which are rumored to connect with the undercity.

House Jorasco Enclave (22)

An ancient building renovated in recent decades, the House Jorasco enclave is built on the district’s highest point, looking down the slope toward the gate that leads into Dannel’s Pride. The building is filled with plants and flowers, perfuming the air and giving the rooms a feeling of life. At night, the enclave’s windows glow with a soft blue light cast by everbright lanterns.

The enclave’s main healer is a cleric of Olladra, Alhaura d’Jorasco (female halfling). In addition to her ability to cast raise dead, the house possesses an altar of resurrection (Eberron Campaign Setting p. 261) for use on behalf of favored clients. However, strange events sometimes accompany the use of powerful necromancy in Stormreach. In a handful of cases, foreign spirits have seized the bodies of those being raised. When Jorasco sought to resurrect the Storm Lord Delera Omaren, the risen warrior cried out in the tongue of the giants and killed dozens with lightning before she was returned to the grave. Another time, a pack of marut inevitables appeared after a member of the Wayfinder Foundation was raised. The outsiders slew the adventurer and devastated the enclave before vanishing. Today, Jorasco healers use augury before performing major necromancy. But divinations can fail, and resurrection might bring surprises. Alhaura is eager to find an answer to this mystery and will sponsor any expedition that promises to solve it.

Beside Alhaura, the enclave maintains a staff of lower-level adepts and experts, who can cast healing spells and provide long-term care in the enclave’s bedrest wing. Healing potions are also for sale, though supplies sometimes run low because of demand from the Stormreach Guard and other major clients. House Jorasco keeps a stock of 10 potions of cure light wounds, 5 potions of cure moderate wounds, and 2 potions of cure serious wounds each month.

The enclave is managed by Iriakan d’Jorasco (male halfling). A recent immigrant from the Talenta Plains, Iriakan is eager to improve the house’s influence throughout Stormreach and offers bargains to adventurers who help him with this goal.

House of Wizardry

A few doors down from Empty Handed, this magic shop is crowded, filled with gnomes and halflings offering spellcasting services and magic items to the highest bidder. Every nook and cranny hosts a magewright or minor wizard. More an indoor market than a shop, the sellers often find themselves competing with one another. The selection of spells available on any given day can include wizard spells of 2nd level or lower or magewright spells of 3rd level or lower.

If your character is looking to learn a wizard or magewright spell or to purchase a scroll or wand of a wizard or magewright spell, he or she might be able to find it so long as it’s value is less than or equal to the base value of 10,400 gp. There is a 75% chance that any item of this value or lower can be found for sale in the House of Wizardry. If an item is not available, a new check to determine if the item has become available can be made in 1 week.

Diplomacy DC 30: A skillful negotiator can often play the competitors against one another, resulting in a 10% price reduction.

Open Palm Inn

Haddie Malewud likes to keep her inn a restful place, and the Open Palm, next door to the House Jorasco enclave, is first and foremost a place to stay. The inn’s ale is some of the worst around, but the food and beds are among the best in Stormreach. Haddie loves mothering her guests, something that even the most embittered like, even if they refuse to admit it.